First Day of Student Teaching

So, I survived my first day of student teaching!! It went really well. This week and next I'm just observing. Getting the feel of the school, the class, and the students. Then gradually I will be taken over most classroom responsibilities and just about all of the teaching. But at least for these two weeks, I get to relax a bit. Today was so nice... just watching, doing random things, helping the kids... no concern for any assignment I need to be completing. That comes tomorrow afternoon. But I get to enjoy it again tomorrow.
Everyone at the school is SO nice. The staff was very welcoming. I met a lot of the other teachers, and they all said I was so lucky to be placed with the teacher I'm with. That makes me feel really good about this semester. Even though Im not sure how my work load will be, Im still feeling good about this semester. I've heard that its a lot of work, but a friend I had seminar with last semester said that we should be able to handle it because we handled the professor we had last semester and she made everything 10 times harder. Mostly because we never knew what the expectations were. If we know the expectations, it'll be a breeze. I like that theory.
My students are so awesome as well. Second graders are SO much more mature than kindergarteners. Especially the girls. They all want to be best friends with their cool new young student teacher. :) I went to library with them and helped some pick out books. I hope they enjoy what I helped them pick! Sucks because I only know what I read as a kid, not the new "cool" stuff. But I bet Beverly Cleary and American Girls are still just as good now.
Im also VERY excited that my mentor teacher is getting an interactive whiteboard!! I dont know how to spell the brand name of that one she's getting. Prometheus I believe. Something like that. Anyways, I cant wait to play with it and hopefully plan so cool lessons for the kids using it!!

The only thing that sucks is that Im VERY tired right now. Not ready for bed, but more tired than I normally would be at 7:30. Tried to go to bed before midnight last night, but was about 1 before I fell asleep. And then I woke up at 6 and couldnt get back to sleep. Stayed in bed until 7:15, when I needed to get up, but I didnt sleep. So I got about 5 hours. Yuck. I was fine all day though. I probably wouldnt have been had I sat and just observed. I was up moving around all day. Sometimes just standing, but I wandered about and helped the kids out and ran a few errands for the teacher. (Photocopying, etc.) The tiredness would have hit me sooner had I just sat. Hopefully my body adjusts to this schedule pretty quickly.